Scientists May Have Found The Birthplace Of Magnetic Field Reversals

[Judi Lynn]

FEB 28, 2018 @ 07:20 PM
Trevor Nace

Earth's magnetic field has been weakening at alarming rates in recent decades, leading to widespread concern over the implications when Earth's magnetic pole does flip. Now, researchers may have found the birthplace of magnetic field reversals.

While geologists have known of Earth's magnetic field reversals for quite some time, the mechanism and timing of reversals have been somewhat of a mystery. Geologists from the University of Rochester recently published their findings from southern Africa, providing a record of Earth's magnetic field and an understanding of how it is changing.

Earth's magnetic field was recorded in various places around the world, primarily by alignment of minerals to the current magnetic field when molten rock lithifies. Based on these records, we know that Earth's magnetic pole reversed every 200,000 to 300,000 years for the past 20 million years. However, what concerns scientists is that the last reversal (the Brunhes–Matuyama reversal) occurred nearly 800,000 years ago. Based on periodicity within an exceptionally long magnetic field record, Earth's magnetic pole should have flipped 2-4 times by now.


We may finally be witnessing the beginning of a pole reversal, with the magnetic field losing strength at an astonishing rate of at approximately 5 percent per decade. When a reversal eventually takes place, it will likely cause global disruption. The weakening and flip of the magnetic field will likely cause widespread electrical grid failures, as the magnetic field helps currents pass through long wires. We will likely see widespread navigation systems and satellites break down. At the human scale, the magnetic field, for a time, would not shelter Earth from the Sun's harmful radiation. This will certainly trigger an increase in radiation to all life on Earth and incidences of skin cancer in humans.

More:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/2018/02/28/scientists-may-have-found-the-birthplace-of-magnetic-field-reversals/#479bb5ac3e09

[pangaia]

1. Fascinating.

I can not imagine which is more serious- this or global warming..

[NBachers]

2. Very interesting- Thanks for posting this.

[Canoe52]

3. Way kewl!

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

4. I can't access article...

I just get a 'quote of the day' and advertisement and a space saying 'continue to article' but clicking there just repeats the same...???

[Javaman]

5. eek!

"At the human scale, the magnetic field, for a time, would not shelter Earth from the Sun's harmful radiation."

let's hope there are no solar flares during that time.

[cstanleytech]

6. If there is not any evidence showing it to cause major damage to the earth

during past flips I doubt it would do anything in the future or atleast not until the sun starts expanding which is far off in the future.